Human Rights

The past century has seen a revolution in the struggle for human rights, but the revolution remains unfinished. There is an ongoing need to share knowledge and transform it into action and meaningful change. This section of the Weave is devoted to raising awareness of some of the world's most pressing human rights issues.

This week, the name Rachel Dolezal has filled the headlines of media and reignited a conversation on identity politics in the United States. The former chapter president of NAACP in Spokane, WA has identified herself as an African-American woman, yet does not have any biological black or African-American ancestry.

As someone who cares about justice in Palestine and who has written a lot about the global significance of Palestine, I pay close attention to the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that is seeking to put economic pressure on Israel. So when a group of nearly 40 student activists at Wesleyan Universitydecided to occupy the office of President Michael Roth last month, with divestment from the Israeli occupation as one of their core demands, they had my attention. After digging further into the case, I’ve concluded that it does more than provide an inspiring example of student activism. It also reveals something about the failures of courage that leave many university administrators blunting organized efforts to seek justice in Palestine instead of standing on the right side of history. (Image: https://www.facebook.com/WesDivest)

The other day as I was walking through Lavapies in Madrid I came across this piece of street art. Although I had never seen this particular artwork before, I had seen the same message in many other forms throughout Madrid. Whether it be written on a wall in graffiti or incorporated into an image like this one, the message always reads something along the lines of, “gente sin casa, casas sin gente” or “ni gente sin casa, ni casas sin gente:” translating to people without houses, houses without people.

Human rights: Whenenever this topic is brought up in conversation, there is a tendency to paint an image of a far away land where inequalities and injustices are every day happenings. Yet, what about human rights specific to our community? We can point fingers at other countries and say what needs to be done abroad, but taking the time to reflect on our own American society seems to be a bit of a struggle. I am entirely guilty of this.

I wish I could celebrate President Obama’s antipoverty program and commend the national media for finally spotlighting the issue of poverty. But I can’t because the Promise Zones Initiative, in theory, attacks the social safety net and, in practice, benefits too few Americans to really make a difference.

This is how we treat people in the 21st century, in the middle of Europe... Look carefully how people are STRIPPED from their Human Rights, their humanity - watch how our society is dealing with migrants, with fellow human beings who dream about better life and seek the new opportunities.